Aura Garcia was appointed to the Board of Public Works Commission by Mayor Eric Garcetti and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council on February 14, 2018. She was elected President of the Board on March, 16, 2022 and re-elected on July 29, 2022.
The daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Aura is a native Angeleno who has dedicated her career to advocating for the advancement of the most vulnerable in her community including minorities, at-risk youth, students, and small business owners. Aura has more than 20 years of experience in building community revitalization projects to improve the quality of life for residents throughout Los Angeles. Most recently, she worked in the Office of the President at Los Angeles Mission College and served as Commissioner on the City's North Valley Area Planning Commission. In 2017, her expertise in grant writing led to securing funding towards services and programming for the reentry population in the Northeast San Fernando Valley.
Prior to that, Aura served as Mayor Garcetti's Regional Manager in the Office of Public Engagement and East Valley Area Representative. Her experience includes managing grant programs, developing contracts, and designing and implementing comprehensive projects throughout the city. Aura has a proven ability to bring people together and she has aligned public agencies, the private sector, business leaders and community residents to build partnerships and work collaboratively throughout the City of Los Angeles. She began her professional career at the Los Angeles Education Partnership where she played a key role in advocating for greater educational equity in Los Angeles. As a previous small business owner herself, Aura also advocates for bringing resources and services to small business owners throughout Los Angeles to ensure that everyone has a fair chance at thriving in our local economy.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Child Development from California State University Northridge and a Master of Arts degree in Executive Leadership from the University of Southern California. For more than 25 years, Aura has resided in the San Fernando Valley.